Children's Book Review: Seamus the Sheltie to the Rescue! by James Beverly

Seamus the Sheltie to the Rescue!

Author James Beverly

Illustrated by Anita Miles

Publisher:  Nightengale Press

Copyright:  2011

ISBN 978-1-933449-88-3

Pages:  155

Includes: A Brief Introduction to Seamus the Sheltie to the Rescue!, Appendix I: Talking With Your Child About Seamus, Appendix II:  'Seamus Speak' Glossary, The Real Seamus Photos, Author Biography, Endorsements and Epilogue

Source:  a copy was provided by the author and Bostick Communications in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

From the Press Release:   Seamus is Back!

"Seamus the Sheltie" is Back with More New and Exciting Adventures

Corinth, MS - Apr 5, 2011 - Now your child can "Laugh and Learn" again with Seamus as the gentle sheepdog guides them through more of the many challenges of growing up. The new Seamus the Sheltie to the Rescue is the third book in the National award-winning "Seamus the Sheltie" series.

If you sometimes have trouble finding the right words to comfort your children when they encounter difficult or frightening issues, or feel unsure of how to share with your children your family's values, or feel ill prepared to explain difficult or moral situations - then the Seamus the Sheltie children's books were written for you.

It's not easy being a kid. There are lots of things to know and learn, and some of them are scary. It's not easy being a parent, either. Sometimes it's hard to find the right words to explain a situation, share our values, or comfort our kids. This new book in the "Seamus the Sheltie" series helps both parents and children to talk about important subjects with the assistance of an unusual guide - a Shetland sheepdog named Seamus.

In Seamus the Sheltie to the Rescue, the lovable sheepdog both learns and teaches valuable lessons about trust, compassion, being born different and kindness. But wisely, the book doesn't preach. Kids can identify with Seamus' feelings - his exhilaration at playing in the snow, his compassion when confronted by a lost or injured animal, or the fear of going to (shudder) the vet. This author does not flinch when it comes to dealing with difficult issues. In Seamus the Sheltie to the Rescue, difficult subjects such as animal cruelty, being born different, adoption, loss of family members, bullies, fear of doctors, the true meaning of Christmas giving, animal rescue shelters, and the joy of experiencing the simple things in life like watching the clouds and playing in the snow are presented.

Rescuing Angus
from the author's site

Review:  James Beverly captures the hearts of his readers with stories of adventures and good life lessons in Seamus the Sheltie to the Rescue!  Broken into chapters with new characters and themes, this children's book is ideal for bedtime reading and for use in those circumstances where answers to situations may sometimes be difficult to verbalize. 

Illustrations by Anita Miles compliment the text, bringing to life the stories of Seamus.  A fun touch that the author, James Beverly, includes in each story is a special "Seamus Speak" language as he imagines how Seamus would speak if given the opportunity to verbalize in English.  Seamus' language will make it fun for parents to read aloud to their children. This is definitely one that you will want to add to your children's library.

Seamus the Sheltie to the Rescue is a keeper!

Rated 4/5

James Beverly and his dog Seamus

About the author:  James Beverly was born in Seco, a small historical coal mining town in eastern Kentucky. He is an only child. His family moved from Kentucky to Detroit when he was five years old. He grew up in Detroit.

Mr. Beverly has worked in the field of mental health as a therapist and administrator in nine states for over forty five years and has presented at a number of national and state conferences. He has been nominated for a variety of state and regional awards for innovative clinical programming and was among the first to develop and implement a multi-disciplinary battered women's facility that was operated by a community mental health center. His innovative domestic intervention police training program that was designed to serve community based law enforcement agencies was presented by request to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Mr. Beverly retired in June of 2010.  During his many years of service, Mr. Beverly worked directly with a wide variety of distressed children and their families in a variety of institutional and community settings. During this time, he became acutely aware of the poor communication that existed in many of the families, which led to a lack of meaningful family values being instilled in the children. Most of these families were motivated to teach their children- but lacked the necessary basic materials, knowledge and skills to be successful. It was apparent to him that there were very little written or easily accessible materials available for parents and children to assist in these tasks. These experiences laid the foundation for a series of books for children and their parents that was designed specifically to fill these values and communication gaps in a pleasant, fun, and non-threatening manner.

Book Review: Nightmare At Camp Forrestwood by Kelli Sue Landon

Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood
(A Young Adult Whodunit)
Author:  Kelli Sue Landon
Publisher:  Outskirts Press, Inc.
Copyright:  2011
Pages 129
ISBN 978-1-4327-7086-0
Source:  A complimentary copy was provided by the author, Bostick Communications and Outskirts Press, Inc. in exchange for my review.

From the back cover:  Adjusting to a new school isn't easy...especially when the senior class camping trip includes murder. 

Holly Jenson is the new student at Madison High and she's never felt so uncomfortable in her life. She can't figure out how to get her new classmates to like her.  The senior class camping trip is coming up and she knows that Matt Ifft will be there.  That would be awesome since she has a crush on him.  She promises herself she'll make the trip fun.  But when the phones stop working and Tricia disappears, Holly knows something is terribly wrong.  then Rhonda disappears.  There's a killer among Holly's classmates.  But who is it?  If Holly can find someone she can really trust, maybe they can escape together...if they live long enough.

Review (with a little bit of a spoiler):  Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood is Kelli Sue Landon's second book, both of which I have had the privilege of reviewing; the first being Sudden Moves, a young adult mystery fiction novel.  In Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood, Ms. Landon aims for an older audience and the content is indicative of this as the plot centres around a high school  senior class and corresponding themes.  

As is tradition at Madison High, the senior class plans a weekend together but this camping trip is like none other.  It is wrought with jealousies, contention and outright physical altercations and...  murder.  Being new to the school, Holly has no idea whom she can trust as the plot heats up with the disappearance of a teacher and a student.   Another student disappears, then another.....and the missing count rises.....  

Who do you trust when you don't know anyone well enough to trust them?

Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood is a fast, suspense filled read. I was reminded of the Goosebump novels, with their fast-paced thriller themes, that some of my kids enjoyed during their pre-teen and early teen years. Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood is an engrossing young adult thriller that will hold you fast, page by page, a prisoner to the writer as are the students in the camp.  Though Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood is written for the young adult audience; adults and teens alike will recognize common themes from their schooling years, which expands the age appropriateness.  I wouldn't, though, recommend it for young teens due to some language, violence and sexual references.

Rated 4/5 

About the author:

Kelli Sue Landon has had her short stories and her first novel, Sudden Moves (see review here) published.  She lives in Peoria, Illinois, and works for the United States Postal Service there.

Ma and Jack in Paperback - Emma Donoghue's "Room"

The unforgettable story of Ma & Jack -- now available in paperback!

Room just came out last fall and has been nominated for numerous awards.  Now Emma Donoghue's  story of Ma and Jack, her five-year-old son, encapsulated in ROOM, is available for the first time in paperback.

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Author:  JK Rowling
Publisher:  Arthur A. Lenie Books, An Imprint of Scholastic Press
Copyright:  1997
ISBN:  0-590-35340-3
Genre:  Fiction
Source:  I own this copy

Summary from Scholastic Books:  In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry, an orphan, lives with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley.

One day just before his eleventh birthday, an owl tries to deliver a mysterious letter—the first of a sequence of events that end in Harry meeting a giant man named Hagrid. Hagrid explains Harry's history to him: When he was a baby, the Dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, attacked and killed his parents in an attempt to kill Harry; but the only mark on Harry was a mysterious lightning-bolt scar on his forehead.

Now he has been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the headmaster is the great wizard Albus Dumbledore. Harry visits Diagon Alley to get his school supplies, especially his very own wand. To get to school, he takes the Hogwarts Express from platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station. On the train, he meets two fellow students who will become his closest friends: Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Harry is assigned to Gryffindor House at Hogwarts, and soon becomes the youngest-ever Seeker on the House Quidditch team. He also studies Potions with Professor Severus Snape, who displays a deep and abiding dislike for Harry, and Defense Against the Dark Arts with nervous Professor Quirrell; he and his friends defeat a mountain troll, help Hagrid raise a dragon, and explore the wonderful, fascinating world of Hogwarts.

But all events lead irrevocably toward a second encounter with Lord Voldemort, who seeks an object of legend known as the Sorcerer's Stone…

Review:  This is the first book in what is destined to be a classic series, that of Harry Potter.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the UK) has made an enormous impact on children's lives (adults too, yes) everywhere, as readers are introduced to a world of wizardry, a young orphaned boy who discovers he has special "gifts", and the school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that helps him develop those very gifts.  

Harry Potter is orphaned as an infant, his parents killed by the nefarious Lord Voldemort, a wicked wizard, and left with a lightning scar on his forehead which proves to be a link to the event and the murderer.  Taken to live with his "muggles" aunt, uncle and cousin; Harry Potter knows he doesn't belong in this world.  He is undermined at every turn by his abusive relatives, but his circumstances change on his eleventh birthday.

Rescued by Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts, Harry Potter leaves his home of the previous years, to board at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Here he makes two very good friends in Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and learns what it means to be a wizard, a famous one at that.  His role and purpose become apparent as his curiosity leads him into perilous circumstance, with his best friends in tow.

J.K. Rowling has created a world that most can relate to; not for the witchcraft, but for the relationships within school, home and society.  What child doesn't dream that he/she can alter their circumstance, stand up to the bully, discover their true gifts and talents, and be recognized ultimately for the  special person he/she is?  In Harry Potter's world, children find this....the something they can relate to and they celebrate in Harry's successes as he conquers the obstacles in his life.

Rated 4.5/5

This is book one of the Harry Potter Reading Challenge hosted by Giraffe Days.

 July's read is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  

Book Review: Rock Bottom by Erin Brockovich

Rock Bottom
Author:  Erin Brockovich with CJ Lyons
Publisher:  Vanguard Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group
Copyright:  2011
Pages:  260
Also contains a Conversation with Erin Brockovich, author
Genre:  Thriller/Environment/Fiction
ISBN 978-1-59315-625-1
Source:  FSB Associates provided a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

From the book jacket:  From New York Times bestselling author and internationally renowned environmental and consumer advocate Erin Brockovich comes Rock Bottom, a debut thriller and first in a series of novels that introduces one of the most fascinating and memorable characters in suspense fiction.

...When AJ is offered a job with a lawyer who is crusading against mountaintop removal mining, she is torn  As a single mother of a special needs nine-year-old boy, AJ can use any work she can get.  But doing so will mean returning to the West Virginia hometown she left in disgrace so long ago.

Upon arriving in Scotia, AJ learns of the sudden death of the lawyer who hired her.  Soon after joining forces with is daughter, Elizabeth, threats begin to surface, bodies begin to pile up, and AJ discovers that her own secrets aren't the only ones her mountain hometown has kept buried.  Hitting rock bottom, AJ must face the betrayal of those once closest to her and confront the harrowing past she thought she had left behind.

In Rock Bottom, Erin Brockovich combines passionate intensity, first-rate storytelling, and her real life experiences in a novel that will leave you breathless.

Review:   From page one of Rock Bottom, the reader is drawn into a world of environmental ravaging, as AJ returns to her hometown to work with a lawyer set out to stop the pillaging and raping of the mountains the town of Scotia calls home.  When AJ discovers her boss has suddenly died, before she has even arrived to begin her new job, her suspicions are aroused.  Zach, her boss, is laid to rest the day after AJ's return to her hometown, and AJ finds herself protectively escorting his daughter, Elizabeth, from the cemetery.  Elizabeth takes up her father's cause and things begin to escalate.  What AJ discovers in Scotia, she has seen semblances of before.  Children attending the local school have a myriad of health problems; there's an odd activist group in town, drumming up attention for the environmental cause; and death threats are made and acted upon.  

Erin Brockovich (and CJ Lyons) has a gift for captivating the reading audience, drawing you in, until you feel a part of the story; making Rock Bottom an excellent read that is difficult to put down.  You'll laugh, yes; you'll cry, perhaps; and you will definitely be on the edge of your seat as you become immersed in this thriller!  

Highly recommended for a nail-biting, page turning experience!  Rated:  4.5/5 (some deity expletives)

About the author (s):  Erin Brockovich is the real life inspiration behind the Oscar-winning movie that bears her name.  Today she continues to perform legal work as a director of environmental research and is involved in consulting on numerous toxic waste investigations.  Brockovich is active on the motivational speaking circuit, with a thriving lecture series and a television talk show in development.  She lives in Los Angeles, California.  Visit Erin Brockovich at www.brockovich.com.

CJ Lyons is an award-winning medical suspense author of such books as Lifelines, Warning Signs, and Urgent Care.  Trained in pediatric emergency medicine, she has assisted police and prosecutors with cases involving child abuse, homicide, and more.  She has also worked as a crisis counselor and victim advocate.  Visit CJ Lyons at www.cjlyons.net.

In My Mailbox (Just Received) 7/4/11

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted each Monday by The Story Siren.  It's a terrific opportunity to see what's new in the world of books and perhaps add to our ever growing wish lists.  I look forward to this meme each week and hope you do too!

And I just have to say "Yay!!  The postal strike is over!!! Woot!"

Murder

by Jo Stone

Source:  Bostick Communications and the author

Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood

by Kelli Sue Landon

Source:  Bostick Communications, Outskirts Press and the author

Books I Purchased: (all at my favourite second hand book store "Never Without a Book")

Eat Pray Love

by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Time Traveller's Wife

by Audrey Niffenagger

The Cat Who Moved a Mountain

by Lillian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Turned On and Off

by Lillian Jackson Braun

So, what's in your mailbox?  What did you purchase, borrow or win?

The Help Early Movie Release

Exciting News for The Help Fans!!!  

I just learned The Help is to be released August 10, 2011!!!  

Two days earlier than previously announced!  

Now, are you excited too?  

Are You As Excited As I Am?

The countdown is on for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II.  I was visiting Patricia's Particularity and saw this incredible video and had to share it for all!  Let me know what  you think!

Upcoming Guest Post and Giveaway!

Author and manager/owner of Extraordinary Events, a special events production company, Andrea Michaels, will be my guest in the near future.  Stay tuned for her insights into the wondrous world of special events and a giveaway of a signed copy of her book, Reflections of a Successful Wallflower!  You're going to love it!

Book Review: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre
Author:  Charlotte Bronte
First Published October 1847 by Smith, Elder and Co.
This Edition:  Oxford University Press 1980
473 pages
Includes:  Introduction, Note on the Text, Select Bibliography, A Chronology of Charlotte Bronte, Preface, Volumes I-III (the entire story is told in three volumes), Explanatory Notes
ISBN 0-19-281513-X
Source:  I purchased this edition of Jane Eyre

This book is our book club book of the month for June 2011.



From the cover:  Widely regarded as one of the finest novels in the English language, Jane Eyre has also remained on of the most popular.


'Such a strange book!  Imagine a novel with a little swarthy governess for heroine, and a middle-aged ruffian for hero', wrote a contemporary reviewer.  Charlotte Bronte had concluded that publishers preferred the "wild, wonderful, and thrilling" to the 'plain and homely' when her first novel, The Professor, was rejected.  Certainly Jane Eyre contains much that is 'thrilling', and equally certainly it was welcomed by publishers and public alike.  The first edition in 1847 was followed by a second and third in quick succession, and had already reached a fifth edition before Mrs Gaskell's Life of the author in 1857 stimulated such an interest that 35, 000 copies of Jane Eyre were printed in two years."

A powerful and gripping 19th century novel, Jane Eyre is still as compelling a read now as it was a century ago.  Jane Eyre An Autobiography reads the title page making the reader wonder just who the book is really about.  There are striking similarities between the lives of Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte who wrote this novel under the pen name Currer Bell.  Both Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre lost their mothers at a young age, both had an aunt help raise them, both went away to school where the conditions were less than adequate, both became teachers, both were governesses, both dreamed of having their own school.  There are the similarities.  The differences lie in the rest of the story, of which the reader will have to ascertain on their own to avoid spoilers herein.

Bronte has the ability to capture the expanse of the moors, the cold and forbidding atmosphere of Lowood School, and the warmth of Moor House with such vividity that the reader can readily envision the locales, seeing it as Jane surely does. The reader tags along, caught up in the emotions that Bronte so easily provokes.  Jane Eyre is certain to be one of those books that one will recall with fondness, time and again, and desire to revisit time and again.  

One aspect of Charlotte Bronte's writing that caught my attention, is her  frequent reference to the writings of other authors throughout the book of Jane Eyre, which is a lovely way of introducing the reader to the works of other writers.  She particularly had a fondness for Shakespeare (Midsummer Night's Dream) and Scott, while quoting often from the bible too.  Doing so, Bronte further develops the stage set within the novel and the era thereof.  All in all, Bronte's enchantment lingers, the characters of Jane and Rochester remembered fondly, though time passes in the reading.  One still looks back in recollection of one of the greatest classics ever written, Jane Eyre's story is timeless.

http://focusfeatures.com/jane_eyre